All-American look-out

I don't post everything the Crime Dawg sends because I don't want UtWT to become a crime rant. Also I couldn't keep up. Let's face it -- Crime Dawg is awesome. But one thing is creeping me out and I wanted to make sure you heard about it. Here are excerpts from some recent CD reports from our neighbors:

26-Sept-06: I wanted to let everyone know there is a really clever and cute ‘kid’ who is NOT Nearly as Harmless as you might think. He was supposedly fundraising for his baseball team and selling books for charitys. He is probably 20-25 years old, muscular, athletic build, blue green eyes….looks like the All American College boy…. goes by the name of Casey Harmon. Anyway, he may catch you doing yard work or outside with the kids…He will say his Mom is from such and such and his Dad is from another place, both places will be where you are from and your husband is from the other. It is really freaky. Early Friday evening 5:30 or so, September 23rd on Sterling Road, my husband, the kids, and I were getting ready to go to the Freedom Park Festival …..when he appeared in our front yard. And my husband, of course, totally befriended him while he played with our kids in the front yard. He had everything in common with us and his Mom supposedly lived right down the street, Don’t we know her, she walks her golden retriever everyday and she is such a great help to his fundraising. He also happened to tell us he knew our neighbor next door and was going for a ride in his Porshe later & lots of other details about our neighbor who ended up having no idea who this guy was. But we didn’t learn all this until after we had left him alone for a minute in our foyer with 2 small children while retrieving a checkbook… He had our guards that down!!! As embarrassing as this is, I want to warn everyone about him because he is nothing like he describes himself as and appears to be. It turns out he has physically assaulted a woman in Elizabeth, and threatened others in Foxcroft and other neighborhoods around here. My husband gave him a check which we have cancelled. Fortunately, the valuable lesson came cheap for us, Thank God. But please call the police if you happen to meet him.
29-Sept-06: Yes, this is the exact same guy (and exact same phony story of Casey Harmon raising money for baseball team trip, claiming to be neighbor's son) who approached me earlier in the summer and threatened me (got in my face, backed me into my front door, held fists up, etc. when I would not buy from him). I cannot believe he is back, but the writer is correct that he is very convincing, very handsome, looks like he could baby sit your kids and live in the neighborhood -- but he is DANGEROUS. The best description I can give from memory is: White male, 5'10", athletic, tan skin with dark brown short cut hair, blue-green eyes, looks to be of Italian or Mediterranean descent, was wearing a Nike athletic outfit, backwards baseball cap, peddling a scooter...
29-Sept-06: I think the same guy knocked on our door about 6 months ago. He is a good looking, early to mid 20’s white kid. He was wearing a baseball hat, tee shirt and jeans. He was going door to door on his Razor Scooter and he had a similar rap: very fast, aggressive talker, he said his mom and dad live on Kenmore, his dad is a doctor, he grew up in this neighborhood, and he was raising money so that his elite baseball team could go to a national tournament (although he did not need the money, he was doing it for the team). When I told him I was not going to give him any money, he flipped out and started yelling at me telling me that he did not want to listen to my BS excuse, etc. We ended up going at it for a bit on the front lawn (I shared with him that his sales techniques needed some fine tuning) and I’m a little bummed that I did not call the police.

From police: Our district has been receiving calls to 911 and information from residents about this salesperson, who seems to come prepared with information about residents and neighbors. We have been told that he is cocky, aggressive, and sometimes belligerent when questioned or turned away. However, I am unaware of any reported assaults involving this individual, in Elizabeth or any other area. Since, I can’t keep track of every single incident that happens in our district, I checked for reported assaults in the Elizabeth and Chantilly neighborhoods for the previous month. I found no reported assaults where this individual was the suspect. I do encourage residents to call about aggressive behavior from any salesperson, but I do not want you to be overly alarmed and fell like this subject is waiting for an opportunity to physically harm you. Please use normal recommended precautions when someone comes to your door that you do not know. Do not open the door for them. Speak to them through the door or ignore their presence until they leave. There are still some businesses who have salespeople canvassing neighborhoods, but I personally don’t recommend buying anything from someone who approaches your home unsolicited.